- The collection last Sunday (Peter' s Pence) was €1033.00.
AS I WAS SAYING...
A second Papal visit to Ireland seems to be on the cards. Or, at the very least, the possibilities are being explored. You will recall that, almost a month before the 1979 visit, Lord Mountbatten was blown out of the water by the IRA and, in a separated incident, eighteen British soldiers were murdered near Strangford Lough. These were two major 'spectaculars'. In this context, a Papal visit to Northern Ireland was deemed to be either too risky or too provocative. Armagh, the Primatial See, would have to wait for another day. It was a terrible disappointment for Tomás Ó Fiaich. The Cardinal firmly believed that the Holy Father would be absolutely safe in Northern Ireland. He regarded the UK's negative recommendations as retaliation: the 'Brits' were getting their own back on the Catholic community for the IRA atrocities of that Summer. Right up to his death, Ó Fiaich never swallowed the British security line.
So, is Armagh to have its Big Day at last? And, if so, what does the Irish Church 'do' today with a papal visit? What does the Holy Father 'do' with a visit to Ireland that he has not already done? Because the Ireland today is radically different to the Ireland of 25 years ago. Would a papal visit actually highlight the changes that have taken place to the embarrassment of the Church? It is doubtful today if the population could be motivated and mobilised to the same extend as they were in 1979. Come to think of it, what was the 1979 visit about? It might be useful for the Irish Church at this time to reflect on the 1979 visit and its aftermath. It might just give some helpful perspective to the planning that seems to be afoot at the moment.
The first Papal visit to Ireland was an extraordinary occasion. Enormous crowds came out over the three days. The visit itself seemed to echo the Catholic fervour and devotion of the 1950s. At the same time, John Paul II seemed to be the very epitome of a more relaxed Catholicism. But in neither case did the image reflect the reality. Irish Catholicism had changed fundamentally by 1979. John Paul had been less than a year in office then; in retrospect now, it is obvious that he was striving to apply the brakes to the more liberal Catholicism that had emerged in the post-Vatican II period. He, and the Church he governed, had a clear objective during that visit.
We now know that his task was futile. Granted, he received a fabulous reception. But it was all very short-term. Ireland was already well on its way towards embracing the secular values he so strongly opposed. So, if he does return, what will the agenda be this time? There is a strong case to be made for discouraging the visit. Such events tend to promise more than they can deliver.
However, in an Irish Times article below, Breda O'Brien has argued persuasively that he should indeed come. It is a very perceptive article. Indeed she makes the point that the message now required can be more effectively preached by this broken giant than by the more vigorous Pope of 25 years ago. Our superficial social environment today places the the vigorous, the athletic and the wealthy on its High Altar for adulation: 'Behold the object of our aspiration!' Into this superficial scene walks this awkward, broken old man with a very different message. He says, without saying a word, that human beings are valuable even when they are broken. We should welcome him. He will be good for us.
-Dick Lyng.
EVENTS THIS WEEK AND LAST
- NEW ROTA FOR READERS: Sunday last, since it was 'the morning after the night before', was a bad day to get important messages across. We announced here that we were rearranging the rota for the Sunday 11.00 Mass. Please note that, from today, Sunday, July 4th, we will have two Readers at the 11.00 Mass. The first Reader will read the Old Testament reading and the psalm (or sing the latter should they so wish!). The second reader will read the New Testament reading and the Gospel acclamation. I gather that this is already the practice in most other churches. The new rota has now been posted on the Notice Board beside the Priory Office.
- SUMMER FESTIVAL AFTERMATH: We did our sums during the week on the Summer Festival returns. You will recall that we charged €5 for a single ticket to the barbecue and €10 for a family ticket. Over 130 people had as much food and drink as they could consume. The children had as much entertainment as they could endure. And we still came out with profits of over €360.00. This is of course entirely due to the generosity of our neighbours and patrons. People were seriously generous in handing in provisions (both food and drink) for the feast. And of course our many helpers were all unpaid volunteers, obviously! All in all then, it was a fabulous community celebration that will be remembered for a long time by all who were present.
- EVENING WITH JESUS: This will be conducted by Francis Cotter, O.F.M. in the Church of Christ the King, Salthill Church on tomorrow evening, Monday July 5th, commencing with Mass at 7.30. A talk will be delivered at 8.00, followed by discussion, tea and prayer time. All are welcome.
- THE MIKADO: Tomorrow night week, Monday week, July 12th, is our opening night. We will play for three nights. Rehearsals will continue all through this week. The show is actually coming along very well. In fact we are ready to run even now!
ANOTHER PAPAL VISIT?
I hope the Pope comes to the North. I would like to take my children to see one of the most courageous figures of our age. It would be even more significant now that he is not a handsome, charismatic figure, but a man whose body no longer obeys him, even though his brain is as sharp as ever.
He has always been a powerful communicator, with a simple message. Nothing you own can ultimately satisfy you. Giving brings more satisfaction than the relentless pursuit of getting. Yet in this last decade he has begun to communicate one of his most important messages, not through words, but in his very existence. In an age that worships at the altar of the young and the beautiful, he is a scandal, an old man who slurs his words, and sometimes drools. Once photogenic, now he is nothing except a tired, sick old man who refuses to hide from our embarrassed eyes the fact that he is ageing and weak.
He is probably the most famous person on the planet, but he turns our notions of celebrity upside-down. He became a celebrity, not because he was a crowd-pleaser, but because he resolutely refused to tell us only what we wanted to hear. Today, in his battered frailty, he is once more telling us something we don' t want to hear but perhaps which we need to know.
Two years ago, when rumours that the Pope would resign were everywhere, the London Independent reported that John Paul had said that he would carry on "because Christ did not descend from the cross". Not exactly a catchy soundbite. In fact, it is the kind of statement that would have most spin-doctors chewing the carpet.
To locate suffering uncompromisingly at the centre of life, and to proclaim it has a value? What kind of madness is that? Most of us expend large amounts of energy trying to evade the unrelenting reality that we all suffer. We certainly don' t want to be reminded of it. As a result, we never hear the postscript. Suffering does not have to be meaningless. It is only when we stop trying to run away from suffering that it slowly yields its meaning. John Paul lives the reality every day. He has a body which refuses to co-operate with a mind that is still acute, and still he goes on. He says, without saying a word, that human beings are valuable even when they are broken. To be weak and vulnerable is no shame. The shame lies in those who would exploit weakness and vulnerability.
Sometimes, when I see him on television, unable even to lift his head properly, I am reminded of something apparently unrelated. I think about the young woman who had a nose job after appearing on Big Brother. She could not cope with the abuse her nose evoked from the parasitic media that feed off Big Brother. I wish that young woman, and all those who believe that their worth lies in their physical appearance, had access to one per cent of the indomitable spirit of the old man on the screen.
Recently, I was asked to speak at a novena in Limerick. I sat through session after session in the church, trying to figure out how a big church can be filled 10 times a day in an age when religion is allegedly dying. The Redemptorists read out petitions and thanksgivings at every Mass. It is a novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, so the petitions are often addressed to "Mother". It is deeply affecting to hear the prayers that come so simply from people' s hearts. "Dear Mother, please pray for a young girl who was raped and has attempted suicide." "Mother, pray for a little boy who is only five and who has a tumour on his kidney."
No doubt a sceptic might sneer, and talk about people clinging to superstitious practices like nine days of prayer when all else fails. My intuition is that the sneers are misplaced. There is a quiet dignity about people who do not take refuge from life' s harshness in sophisticated cynicism, or weary hedonism. Instead, they come in all their vulnerability and humility to ask for help, and to support each other. In a way, they are another expression of the truth that John Paul now embodies.
The value and beauty of human beings does not lie in their power, or their wealth, or their ability to manipulate life to their desires. People have a right to express their opinion that Ireland has grown beyond the need to turn out in large numbers to pay respect to a world religious leader. Yet by labelling this man as conservative, critics only manage to lay themselves open to the criticism often levelled at the church, of being obsessed with sexual matters. It is difficult, unless one ignores every other aspect of this pontificate, to say that John Paul is conservative. What of "War is always a defeat for humanity"? Or his tireless championing of the poor and despised, and the right of the developing world to throw off the yoke of crippling debt?
Some people fear that it would be embarrassing if the numbers turning out were dismally small. This is not about numbers. Those sensitive to the symbolism of the Pope being received in Northern Ireland, and of its historic import in the life of this small, bloodstained island, will welcome him. Older people who quietly believe, and smaller numbers of young people who have already learnt that the buzz of a booming economy is not all it is cracked up to be, will be there. And yes, there will be gawkers, day-trippers and begrudgers, as there are everywhere he goes. In the midst of them all will be an elderly man, more eloquent, more moving now in his old age, than he ever was 25 years ago in his health and strength.
-Breda O'Brien, Irish Times, Saturday, July 3, 2004.
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